What Content Management System Should I Use?

Unless you’re an evil HTML genius or a masochist, chances are you will opt on using a CMS.

Choosing one usually depends on the type of site you want and whether or not you have any previous experience with any particular CMS. If you don’t have a preference and are starting from scratch, there are two basic categories to choose from.

Blogging CMS’s

A blogging CMS is what this site is built with. The main purpose of it is to make publishing content easy.

I can make the posts look how I want with having to do much with the HTML. I can organize my posts into categories. I can make custom menus quickly and easily.

There are many blogging content management systems, but three of the more popular choices are:

WordPress

Drupal

Joomla

There are more, but most web hosting platforms will include quick installs of these three options. Additionally, a lot of the hosted blogging services like Wix or Weebly have their own CMS’s, usually designed to make creating a very basic website as easy as possible.

My site is built on WordPress, and most of this Beginner’s Guide to SEO is about working with WordPress sites. I strongly recommend using it above the other options. But, it’s good to know that there are other options available.

The reason that I really like it though are:

easy to install

tons of free and premium website themes

a whole heap of useful plugins

plenty of community support due to how widely it’s used

created and maintained by a strong organization always releasing improvements and updates

Some people don’t like it, but I feel it’s the best content management system by far. For me, it’s the only choice. I tried using Drupal once, and only once. Yes, I thought it was that bad.

TB Tip: When installing WordPress, use your host’s Quick Install option . If they don’t have a Quick Install, find a better host. If you end up needed to install it manually, this video can help.

E-commerce CMS’s

You might be more interested in starting up a small product-based website instead of an informational resource. If that’s the case, you might be looking to make your life easier by using a CMS specifically designed to handle e-commerce.

To my knowledge, the two big e-commerce platforms are Shopify and Bigcommerce. There are definitely more than just these two, but these seem to be the current big dogs.

The big difference between an e-commerce content management system and a blogging one is that the e-comm variety make integrating shipping carts and online payments much simpler.

They are also designed to make updating products and controlling inventories a breeze.